Each and every VC has their own investment philosophy cultivated through their own experiences and personal truth seeking. I think the best VC investors expand their way of thinking and acknowledge the complexities of each and every factor in a startup and the challenges that a company might face. Philosophy is about thinking in different ways, and I took a particular interest in political philosophy because I was always intrigued by different government structures and wanted to apply that kind of thinking to the study of political science. It also helped that when I was a freshman in college at a policy debate tournament an undefeated Harvard team ran Nietzsche’s “will to power” argument, I was in awe. Below are just a couple of the works I’ve read and had interesting discussions on over the years. (This list started out as political philosophy, but may deviate towards western canonical works as well)
Social and Political Philosophy: Readings from Plato to Gandhi, John Somerville and Ronald Santoni
Includes reading from Plato, Aristotle, Thoreau, Mill, Marx, etc. Great starter book for discussions. Highly recommend as a first book for anyone interesting in political philosophy. The first book I read in my first political science intro course in college.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt
The first philosophy book I ever read in my life senior year of high school. I was ambitious and read this along a Yale university course titled Moral Foundations of Politics (PLSC 118) taught by Professor Shapiro.
Gender Trouble, Judith Butler
I was really excited to read this book. Masculine and feminine identity is based on that of performance rather the intrinsic nature of a person. Sex is biological and gender is an identity constructed from societal and cultural dictation and validation. Butler is very thought provoking and expansive in her journey to prove that there is no gender identity behind gender, it is purely performative based on the expression of the person.
Sexual Politics, Kate Millett
Millett makes a very interesting argument that sex is often not talked about in the political sphere.She goes through and illustrates how many of the greatest writers and thinkers of our time discuss sex in a very patriarchal and gender discriminatory manner. I was led to this book after a discussion with a fellow debater about how gender is a construct and sex is biological.
The Republic of Plato, Allan Bloom
What is justice? A question that humankind has been trying to answer for more than a thousand years. I highly recommend the Allan Bloom version. I think if Socrates were alive today, he would be an excellent attorney.
The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings, Rousseau
A collection of Rousseau’s works. The social contract is a very known underlining the concept of democracy. The nature of a government is to serve the people, and the people are the all powerful sovereign. I highly recommend the Oxford edition. A must read for anyone interested in government.
A Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau
Inequality among men (gendered language), humankind, has been around since the beginning of time in the comparison of physical qualities. Subject of law and property has corrupted this natural cycle and humankind now compare based on wealth. Wealth creates moral inequality that can lead to the likes of despotism. A society that measures value based only on monetary standards is the worst kind of society. Really makes me wonder what Rousseau’s opinion of government and socioeconomic inequality would be if he were alive today.
Two Treatises of Government, Locke
A government needs the consent of the people in order to govern. Same concept, but a must read for those interested in government and politics. I once wrote a paper comparing Locke and Hobbes’ view of government. I highly recommend this book be read with Leviathan by Hobbes. It provides for interesting discussions.
The Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
I often read this book when I am down and disappointed with life. Stoicism really is very humbling and admirable. Marcus Aurelius wrote this book for himself and intended it to be private. Identity is established from the things that we tell ourself. You really can’t live a positive life with a negative mind. This is one of my favorite books.
The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber
This was my favorite book freshman year of college. Weber supports this notion of working and exerting as means of a calling. That working and exerting in itself is the end. This is what God calls us to do, and it is our duty to use our bodies to reach this end. The case he makes with capitalism is that it is not wrong and making money is not wrong as long as making money is not the end but the means. Highly recommend!
The Prince, Machiavelli
Came across discussions on this book many times in my college career. It is very well written, but would love to have a thoughtful conversation on how relevant Machiavelli might be in our Soceity today. I guess the fundamental human nature of politics ceases to change even five hundred and four years later after Machiavelli wrote this on Dec. 10, 1513.
Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes
One of my favorites. “…Life of man solitary, nasty, brutish, and short…” Humans are born into a state of war everyone competing for finite resources. Humankind is conditioned to seek a common power to achieve common benefit. An overpowering sovereign would be the only way to preserve order. Hobbes has a very different set of beliefs than Locke, nonetheless still very interesting and an expansive argument. Both works should be read together.
On Liberty,Utilitarianism and Other Essays, John Stuart Mills
One of my favorite assigned readings and in class discussions. Mill’s harm principle was the most intriguing concept to me. “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his (gendered language “his or her”) will, is to prevent harm to others.” The harm principle makes perfect sense to me, but I would have been curious to hear Mills’ thoughts on instances of suicide and physician assisted suicide. If those who suffer from terminal illnesses asked others to harm them and end their pain would that been permissible under his harm principle? Questions for thought.
The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Assigned reading in class that provoked some very interesting discussion. I think it is an important work that all students should read at least once, especially those interested in law, politics, and government. It provides a very interesting argument against capitalism and the process to which capitalism will lead to eventual socialism.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
A very thought provoking book, and also at the same time existentially depressing. “God is dead, and we have killed him.” Nietzsche makes the argument that modern science has killed God by ending christian belief. Death of God represents the end of humans’ false belief in his significance leaving humans in a nihilistic despair. This reading raised a lot of questions for me such as: how does one seek meaning and wholeness in a world without God? What does Nietzsche mean by deriving significance from the real, someone more than human?
Confessions, Saint Augustine
Highly recommend the Oxford edition. Still looking for time to read City of God. This is very well written. It is not one of my favorites because Augustine writes this for a targeted audience, and it just doesn’t feel very personal. Perhaps, this is what personal was like in 397 AD…
Aeschylus II: The Oresteia (The Complete Greek Tragedies), Edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore
I read this work my freshman year of college in a cultural perspectives course. I deeply enjoyed it and wrote a paper juxtaposing the role of Clytemnestra and conventional female roles in Ancient Greek society. Very quick and interesting read.
@TheHungryVC 